The day penicillin was discovered – level 2

28-09-1928

Alexander Fleming was a Scottish microbiologist. He wanted to discover a substance that could kill bacteria in a body.

In August 1928, Fleming spent a holiday with family at his country home. When he returned to his laboratory in September, he went to check his plates with bacteria. He found one plate with an open lid and a blue-green mold in it. The bacteria around the mold didn’t grow. It meant that the mold killed the bacteria.

This discovery was fantastic. Fleming continued his work and soon he was able to create mold. He tested if his mold also killed bacteria.

He saw the result of his testing on September 28, 1928. When he looked at his plates, he saw that his mold also killed bacteria. He gave his mold a new name – penicillin. It was the world’s first well-known antibiotic.

In 1945, Fleming got the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Difficult words: microbiologist (a scientist who studies very tiny animals and plants), substance (a material), plate (a small plate used in a laboratory for testing and experiments), lid (a cover), mold (a very small mushroom which grows on old food or plants), antibiotic (a substance which can destroy bacteria).

What other kinds of bacteria did Alexander Fleming test his penicillin on?

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